Thursday, December 18, 2014

Grandt Line O Scale Caboose Pedestals (#141)

I recently converted one of my cabooses to a 4 wheel bobber caboose. I used a frame that I had found on eBay but the wheelbase was a little short only about 6' in O scale which means my train crew was going to get a bit of a rough ride. It lacked springs as well so I needed to replace the frame to get a better look (and ride!) but I couldn't find a commercial part to replace it with. I was in the Lead Adventure Forum and something someone said made me realize that I was searching with the wrong word! I needed a set of caboose pedestals. So Grandt Line to the rescue and off to Caboose Hobbies I went and I managed to get the last package on the shelf (I'll need another one though).The issue, no instructions. I'm sure there are instructions in the C&S Caboose kit that Grandt Line produces but that wasn't going to help me with this little package of parts. I pulled a picture off the Grandt Line site and sat down to puzzle things through. I figured it might be helpful to others if I went through the steps to assemble one of these.

Here are the parts, the pedestal in gray on the left, spring and journal box on the right

First the journal box

Off the sprue. The small piece on the right is the cover for the journal box in the center, The piece on the left is the backside of the box and our axle will fit into this.

Cover glued to the journal box

Flipping over the journal box, we can see that the back side (on the left) is going to slide into the front.

Like this

Assembly completed

Now on to the pedestal itself

From the front side. Front piece on the left, back piece on the right and the strap that will hold the journal box in place in the center

From the back

I took the front piece and placed it face down and placed the spring in place.

Gluing the back into place, trapping the spring in between.

From the front

I slide the journal box as far up as I can

Then glue the strap on to the bottom

Slide the journal box back down till it makes contact with the strap

Glue the spring down to the top of the journal box and you are done.

The new components for my bobber caboose

I glued the completed pedestals to the side sill from the original frame. I made a plate to glue between the side sills to keep everything in gauge.

The biggest problem now is that the whole assembly is riding to high and my couplers are not matching up. So I have to fix that before I can show you the finished caboose.